In various agricultural and other settings, it may be useful to form bales from crop (or other plant) material, such as hay or corn stover. Various machines or mechanisms may be utilized to gather material (e.g., from a windrow along a field) and process it into bales. The formed bales may have various sizes and, in certain applications, may exhibit generally rectangular (i.e., or other) cross-sections. In order to create rectangular bales, for example, a square baler may travel along a windrow of cut crop material gathering the material into a baling chamber. A reciprocating plunger or other mechanisms may then compress the crop material into bales.
Known balers may include various knotter devices (or “knotters”) that tie the bales by knotting twine into loops around the bales. In typical configurations, knotters and related twine-management devices may be arranged in a row extending laterally across the top (or the bottom) of a baling chamber. A loop of twine for each knotter of a baler may be fed by the twine-management devices to wrap around a bale as the bale is being formed. As the plunger moves the bale rearward through the baling chamber, the rearward movement of the bale through (and then out of) the baling chamber pulls twine from spools to accommodate the growing size of the bale. When the bale is completely formed, each knotter mechanism may then tie off its respective twine loop, in order to secure the twine on the bale. Such tied loops may help the bale retain its shape and general integrity once it is ejected from the baler.
Various issues may arise for known balers, as the balers handle (e.g., form, wrap, and eject) bales. Among these issues, the complexity, size, and weight of various knotters may complicate baler manufacturing, operation, and maintenance. For example, the relatively large size of typical knotters may limit the total number of knotters that may be provided for a given baling chamber. Because known knotters are typically configured to tie only one loop of twine at a time, the number of twine loops for tying bales from a given baling chamber may be limited accordingly. Further, because of the complexity of typical knotters, the knotters may also be subject to frequent breakage or damage. This may result in incomplete or inadequate tying of finished bales as well as significant down-time and maintenance expense for the affected baler.